More than $350 billion will be spent for new coal-fired electricity generation in the next 6 years. China will be the biggest purchaser and the U.S. will be a distant second. Nearly 70 percent of the additional units will be built in Asia, but they will represent only 50 percent of the expenditures due to the lower cost of power plant construction in India, China, and other developing countries in the region.

This forecast in the World Market for Your Products, an online report published by the McIlvaine Company, is in turn supported by other forecasts and studies by McIlvaine on alternative power sources. McIlvaine publishes World Power Generation Projects which provides data on all current projects. Between China and the U.S. there are more than 400 coal-fired projects in the planning stage. If each of these is completed, they will account for most of the projected expenditures.

The potential of massive cancellations of these projects is lessened by several factors. One is the shortage of gas and oil and the resultant price increases. McIlvaine also tracks LNG projects. They will not develop fast enough or in the needed quantities to close a big gap in generation cost. Despite citizen concerns over global warming, the average rate payer is not going to be willing to pay an additional $1000/yr for a benefit which will be hard to quantify.

Nuclear power is potentially a major source for new electricity generation, but presently retirements of existing plants will make it difficult for the industry to contribute much to a net increase in generation.

Renewable energy will only play a minor role in the short term. Wind power is proving viable on a limited basis. Solar power holds promise as advances in technology reduce the cost. But at present, the technology is not competitive for large scale electricity generation.

Biomass will play a minor role due to the limited availability. Its best use will be as a supplemental fuel in coal-fired boilers. The combination of fuels will both reduce costs and environmental emissions.

The world is on the course to replace much of the dwindling oil and gas with renewable fuels such as ethanol. The energy needs for these plants can be served with the waste heat from coal-fired plants. There are several successful examples of this co-generation scheme.

Related news

GE today released a new analysis of global power plants, which found that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the world's fleet of coal and gas plants can be reduced by 10 percent -- the equivalent of removing 95 percent of cars off U.S. roads -- when existing hardware and software solutions are fully applied. The analysis is the first to quantify the emission reductions of using existing technologies to upgrade the global fleet of coal and gas-based power plants.
"The technology to make coal and gas more...

In 2015, after three years of slow growth, the growth of global CO2emissions from fossil-fuel use and from steel and cement production was brought to a standstill. One of the main causes was the 2% global decrease in coal burning and cement production - the largest decrease over the past five decades, apart from recessions. The global decrease in CO2emissions from coal use was offset by increasing emissions from the combustion of natural gas and oil products.
These are the main conclusions from the annual report...

India wants to provide its entire population with electricity and lift millions out of poverty, but in order to prevent the world overheating it also needs to switch away from fossil fuels.
Although India is blessed with ample sunshine and wind, itsmain source of energy is coal, followed by oil and gas. Together, they provide around 90% of the total energy demand of the subcontinent – India, Pakistan and Bangladesh – with coal enjoying the highest share, at more than 70%.
The2016 BP Energy Outlook...

The U.S. is not building new coal-fired power plants and will be shutting down nearly 70,000 MW of existing power plants. There is uncertainty regarding the remaining 190,000 MW depending on clean power regulations. The result of this shrinkage is a large excess of coal-fired boiler talent in the country. Two options for beneficial use are to channel this talent into:
Other types of power generation activities
Coal-fired boiler power generation overseas
This is easier said than done. This talent needs to...

Tom Hellauer reports in The Missourian on the continuing trend toward wood and natural gas and away from coal as fuel for the University of Missouri (MU) Power Plant. The University of Missouri is a member of the International District Energy Association (IDEA).
The MU Power Plant continues to throttle back on its use of coal in the face of stiffening environmental regulations and the availability of alternative fuels.
Since the 2008 fiscal year, the amount of coal burned at the power plant to generate electricit...

Customer comments

No comments were found for $350 Billion For New Coal-fired Generators In The Next 6 Years. Be the first to comment!